An employee raising professional qualifications can count on training rights granted to him by law and on additional benefits. However, the condition is to undertake further training on the initiative of the employer or with his consent. The occurrence of this condition is definitely beneficial for the employee, in the context of the scope of training rights.

Labour law imposes an obligation on the employer to facilitate the improvement of professional qualifications for employees, specifying this obligation in Articles 1031-1035 of the Labour Code. The first of the indicated provisions defines the improvement of professional qualifications as the acquisition or supplementation of knowledge and skills by the employee, on the initiative of the employer or with his consent. Only with the improvement of qualifications understood in this way, labor law binds specific support for the employee undergoing further education. It manifests itself in granting him certain statutory rights and optional additional benefits.

The possibility of exercising these rights depends on whether the employer has referred the employee to a specific form of education or even consented to it (acceptance). This consent can be given in various ways – in writing, orally and even implicitly. In particular, this consent may be manifested by granting the employee paid training leave or guaranteeing an optional benefit in the training contract.

The statutory rights of an employee who undergoes further education on the initiative or with the consent of the employer include training leave and exemption from all or part of the working day, for the time necessary to arrive on time for compulsory classes and for their duration (Civil Procedure Code Art. 1031 §2). These are paid rights, so the employee retains the right to remuneration for the time of using them. Training leave is granted in the amount of:

• 6 days – for an employee taking external exams, matura exams, confirming qualifications in a profession or professional,
• 21 days in the last year of study – to prepare a diploma thesis and prepare and take the diploma exam.

Training leave is granted for days that are working days for the employee, in accordance with the working time schedule applicable to him (Art. 1032 of the Code of Civil Procedure). The employer is obliged to grant training leave and leave from work only if the employee concerned makes an appropriate request.

An employer may, but does not have to, grant an employee improving professional qualifications additional benefits, m.in cover fees for education, travel, textbooks and accommodation (Art. 1033 of the Code of Civil Procedure). Usually, this type of entitlement is granted in the training contract. The employer is obliged to conclude it if he intends to oblige the employee to remain in employment after completing the improvement of professional qualifications (Art. 1034 of the Code of Civil Procedure). The period of „working off” may not exceed 3 years.

An employee raising professional qualifications on the initiative of the employer or with his consent, in the cases specified in Art. 1035 of the Code of Civil Procedure, is obliged to reimburse the costs incurred by the employer for additional benefits. This occurs when:

• the employee without justified reasons will not undertake to improve professional qualifications or interrupt education,

• the employer terminates the employment relationship with the employee without notice due to his fault, during the improvement of professional qualifications or after their completion, within the period specified in the contract, not longer than 3 years,

• within a period not longer than 3 years after the completion of the improvement of qualifications, the employee will terminate the employment relationship with notice, except if it is dictated by a justified allegation of mobbing,

• in the period not longer than 3 years after the completion of the improvement of qualifications, the employee will terminate the employment relationship without notice due to a serious breach by the employer of his obligations or the occurrence of mobbing, despite the lack of reasons for terminating the contract for these reasons.

Reimbursement of costs is made in proportion to the period of employment after completion of the improvement of professional qualifications or to the period of employment at the time of their upgrading (see box). However, only the circumstances listed in Art. 1035 of the Code of Civil Procedure result in the obligation to reimburse co-financing of education costs.

Source: Gazeta Podatkowa No. 79 (1850) of 2021-10-04, author Agata Barczewska

https://www.pit.pl/doksztalcanie/podnoszenie-kwalifikacji-z-inicjatywy-pracodawcy-1006074

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